Dear Prea,
You didn’t think I forgot about our letters, did you? I am now on my way to California (and possibly will finish writing this while I’m there) for work. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. But how can my heart grow any fonder of you? If your heart is already full to capacity with love and fondness, then perhaps absence simply reminds you of it, since in place of the person actually being in front of you is your memories of that person, and reflecting on those memories reminds you just how much you care for that person. All this to say, I miss you very much, and I can’t wait to be back home with you!
Ok, it’s been a couple days, I’m still in California, and I finally have a chance to continue writing this letter. We’ve been thinking a lot about Vishva’s future education, and I wanted to put some thoughts down so we can think more together. We’ve come across some really cool things — the Montessori method, Westtown School, homeschooling, worldschooling, Darlington Arts Center, Deep Springs, Gull Island Institute, the Mountain School, and so many more options and opportunities, including public school. There is such a variety out there in terms of education that I thought, wait a minute. Let’s think about what we mean by education in the first place. What is education? I can’t say I have a definitive answer, but I’ve got some thoughts, and I’d love to hear yours too, so we can compare notes and be more informed and prepared when we present various options to Vishva in the future for him to choose from (or for him to come up with his own option).
To me, education is a process that is of the nature of learning by which someone becomes a good person in the world. I tentatively define a “good person” as someone who is not only kind and compassionate and humble at the interpersonal level, but someone who has also put in effort to understand their interactions with society and their positionality at the structural level (maybe not necessarily in an academic or articulate way but even just intuitively has put in some effort in this direction) and therefore seeks to make changes in the world to better the material conditions of (at least) their fellow humans. In simpler terms, I mean that education is a process that results in a person who wants to make the world a better place for everyone. It is not simply the desire to better the world, but also the skills necessary to do so that should result from education. This involves being able to take care of oneself to the extent that they are able to live independently first, followed by a commitment to the service of humanity. If someone has many degrees and/or makes a ton of money but has no desire to help anyone but themselves (ie is not a good person), that person, to my mind, is not educated. Or, their education is not successful. Thus, education is not simply limited to the subject matter that we traditionally learn in school, but rather has much more in its scope.
So, I’ve been thinking of how we can ensure that Vishva becomes educated in the way I defined above. I don’t have any definitive answers yet. In the end, he has to choose his path, but we can certainly lay out options for him that will help him in that journey. To that end, I’d love to hear your thoughts on education and what options we can/should lay out for him in due time. I’m sorry this is a short-ish post and not terribly well though out, but I think the sooner I get this out there the more we can communicate and converse before coming to a conclusion for ourselves.
Love you always, and miss you so much,
Varun